Brick-handling apparatus.



' W. W. DICKINSON, Jm'

BmcK HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPucAnoN man ma. 1a. mp.

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I APPLlcAnoN mm ma. 13. ma.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4;

v B'LW WILLIAM W. DICKINSON, JR., OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS.

BRICK-I'IANDLING APPARATUS.

specification of Letters atent.

raeentea sept'. 5, mile;

Application filed March 13, 1916. Serial No. 83,931.

To all 'whom z't may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. DICKIN- soN, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Little Rock, in the county of Pulaski and State of Arkansas, have invented a. certain new and useful llmprovement in Brick-Handling Apparatus, of which the following is a 'specification My presentinvention relates generally to brick handling apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for depositing brick into, and removing lthe same from, k ilns, before and after the burning thereof, my object being to provide a simple and effective brick handling carrier suspended from and Operating with, a traveling crane, having means whereby to support and carry dried, unburnt brick without clamping vengagement therewith and without otherwise endangering crushing or breaking the brick in the then comparatively fragile state.

A further obj ect is to provide a suspended brick carried in connection with a traveling crane having load discharging means of such nature as to permit of movement of the carrier and crane with respect to the load, in the discharging operation, and thus admit of spotting the load directly over the space upon which it is to be deposited.

Still further objects, and their resulting advantages, will be better understood from the following description of the construction and operation of my improvements, reference being made therein to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and wherein- Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly broken away, illustrating the practical use of iny improvement in picking up a load of d'ried unburnt brick. Fig. 2 is a top plan 'view of portions of the crane and itslop'erating parts, the carrier being removed, i Fig. 3 is a Vertical section taken substantially on line 3--3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail section, taken substantially on line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an enlarged front view of the carrier, partly broken away and`1n section, substantially'on line 5-\ 5 of Fig. 3.

Beferring now to these figures, my improved carrier 1s mounted in the certain particular manner to be hereinafter clearly described in connection with a traveling` crane, the longitudinally extending tracks of which appear at 10 in Figs. 1 and 2, the main rectangular frame 11 of the crane having end Wheels 12 mounted on the said tracks,

The' laterally adjustable frame 13 of the crane has forwardly and rearwardly projecting wheels 14 at its opposite sides, engaged and movable on the forward and rear bars or beams of the main frame 11 and is, in accordance with my invention, provided with rigid beams 15 and 16 parallel with and between its side bars, and arranged in spaced parallel relation with connecting cross straps 17, said beams 15 and 16 being provided adj acent their opposite ends with bearings, one of which is particularly seen in Fig. 4, receiving the lreduced end portions 18 -of adjusting nuts 19, in rigid connection withv each of which nuts 19 is a worm wheel ,20.

Threaded through the adjusting nuts 19 are screw bars 21, having reduced squared ends passing through and bolted in connection with parallel spaced beams. 22 and 23 which,`with the screw bars 21, form an adjustable frame, the beams 22 and 23 having end wheels 24 movable on the forward and rear beams of the laterally adjustable frame 13, as best seen in Fig. 2, upon opposite sides of the rigid cross beams 15, 16.

One side bar of the laterally adjustable Referring now to Fig. 2, it will be seen that a platform 30 extends across the beam 23 of the adjusting frame, fromv the rigid cross frame 16 to the adjacent side bar of the laterally adjustable frame 13r of the crane, and forms a part of the latter, and that a motor 31 is mounted upon the beams 15 and 16, at one side of the platform 30, the shaft 32 of which extends parallel with, and above, the said beams 15 and 16, and is provided adj aoent its opposite ends with Worms 33 in engagement with the worm Wheels 20. Thus rotation of the shaft 32 through actuation of the motor 31, results in rotating the adjusting nuts 19, and the adjusting movements of the adjusting frame on and with respect to the laterally adjustable frame 16 whereby to raise or lower the cables 27, dependent upon the direction of such adjusting movement.

Otherwise than the slight differences necessary for the erection of the adjusting means just above described, the traveling crane is identical with various well known structures of this character now in use, and no attempt has, hei'eforc, been made to show the' operating and controlling means for the movements of the longitudinally movable frame and thelaterally movable frame 13. It is preferred, however, that the controls for the movement of the longitudinally movable frame 11 and the laterally movable frame 13, as Well as the controls of the motor 31, just above described, and another motor tobe hereinafter described, shall be located upon the brick handling carrier, as proposed by my invention, and as indicated in dottedl lines in Fig; 1, these controls bein respectively indicated at 34, 35, 36, and 3% upon a control box 38 and mounted at some convenient point upon the operators platform 39 which constitutesthe. top of the brick handling carrier proposed by my invention, and generally indicated at 40, and to the upper portions of the sides of which, adjacent the forward and rear ends, are con- :nected4 the lower ends of the cable 27 by means of turn buckles 41 which provide for leveling the carrier when desirable. The sides of the carrier adj acent its forward and rear ends are lalso provided with rigid upright guide members 42 telescoping within the lower ends of tubular guide members 43 rigidly secured to, and depending from, one side bar of the laterally movable frame 13, and the rigid beams 15 and 16, which latter are spaced from the said side bars a distance substantially equaling the width of the carrier 40. Across the lower rear por.- tion of the suspended carrier 40, between the sides and rigidly connected thereto, is a casting 44 supporting bearings 45, as seen in Figs. 3 and 5, for tubular adjusting nuts similar to the nuts 19 before described upon the screw bars 21, and having worm wheels 46 in connection therewith, in mesh with Worms 47 adjacent the opposite ends of a motor shaft 48, the motor 49 for actuating which is also mounted upon the casting 44. Through the tubular nuts carrying the worm wheels 46 are extended screw bars 50 rigidly connected at their forward ends to a transversely extending push bar 51. To the castlower edges of the sides of the carrier and the lower face of the rear casting 44, the

series of pick-up fingers so formed constitut-- ing substantially the supporting base of the carrier, for the purpose to be hereinafter described, it being noted particularly from Fig. 5 that each of the fingers 53 is of inverted T-shape, its upstanding web portion projecting through a conformably-shaped slot 54 in the push bar 51, and of which there are a series corresponding to the numbers of the pick-up fingers.

As thus costructed, and adjusted Vertically, through the connections before described, including screw bars 21, the carrier is adapted for movement with the longitudinally movable frame 11 of the crane beneath a load of driedl unbrunt bri'ck, as indicated at A in Fig. 1, laid by templets upon a drying car, as seen at B, in the same figure, the supporting surface of which has crossed spacing strips B' of suflicient height to enable the lower flanged portion of the pickup fingers 53 to be projected beneath' the Stack of bricks, the upstanding webs of the fingers extending into spaces between the bricks which remain therebetween during the drying operation, to permit of free circulation of air through the stacks.

It is, of course, understood, at the time the pick-up of the stack is made, the push bar 51 is retracted to its rearmost position, as shown in full lines in Fig. 3. The crane is then moved toward the kiln (not shown) and the carrier is elevated through its elevating mechanism, so as to proceed'into the kiln above the level'of the top of the Stack of bricks therein, it being understood that the kiln receives many stacks in superposed relation of the size shown in Fig. 1, upon the drying car B. When within the kiln, the carrier may be spottedA directly over either the space where the Stack within the kiln is to be started, or over the partially completed stack', and then, by starting the motor 49 from 'the .operatofs station upon platform 39, the push bar 51 is adjusted forwardly. At that time, however, the crane is freely movable upon the main track 10, the controls being released upon the main frame 11 for this purpose,` so that, being more readily movable than the stack itself under actuation of the push bar 51, the oarrier40 and the crane move away from the stack'until the latter is entirely discharged from the carrier, at which time the push bar 51 is substantially in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. From this it will be seenpthat much more effective alinement of the several stacks from the drying cars may be efl'ected in the kiln than would be possiblevwere the operator to be required to ju-dge the proper position of the carrier with respect to the Stack so as to move the Stack in relation to the carrier upon the bricks within the kiln or the space within the kiln at which the stack is to be started.

By the same arrangement the bricks may be readily removed in stacks from the kiln after being burnt, and readily and quickly stacked at any particular storage space outside of the kiln over which the carrier' may be spotted. Furthermore, by the particular arrangement of the pick-up fingers, a considerable numbel` of bearing points beneath the entire stack results, so as to support the Stack conveniently in proper position and coperate with the sides of the carrier in preventing ready displacement. The same structure additionally obviates the provision of means clamping or otherwise engaging the bricks and endangering'crush'- ing or breaking the latter.

I claim:-

1. In a brick handling apparatus, the combination with a traveling crane, including a longitudinally movable frame, tracks upon which said frame is movable, and a laterally movable frame adjustably mounted in said longitudina-lly movable frame, of-

a carrier suspended below and. from said laterally movable frame, an adjusting frame movable in said laterally movable frame and including spaced side bars and screw bars arranged in parallel relation and rigidly connected tosaid spaced side bars, rollers carried by the said side bars of the ad- ]ustmg frame and engaging-portions of said laterally movable frame, tubular nuts threaded on the said adjusting rod and held combination with a 'traveling crane includ-" ing a longitudinally movable frame and a laterally movable frame adjustably mounted on said longitudinally movable frame, of a carriage suspended from and below said laterally movable frame, guides connecting the said frame and carrier and upon which the latter is adjustable vertically, an adjusting frame movable in said laterally movable frame, and connected to, and controlling Vertical movement of, said carrier, and

means mounted in said laterally movable ing a longitudinallyl movable frame and a laterally movable frame adjustable in said longitudinally movable frame of, a carrier suspended belowl said laterally movable frame, an adjusting frame movable in said laterally movable frame and connected to and controlling Vertical movement of said carrier, and means for moving said adjusting frame relatively to said laterally movable frame.

4. In a brick handling apparatus, the

'combination with a traveling crane, includbodily movable in a horiontal direction in said main frame and with respect thereto, a, carrier suspended beneathv the crane and flexibly connected to the said adjusting frame, guiding means between the main frame of'V the crane and the said carrier for rigidly holding the latter against sidewise movement, and guiding the same in its vertical movement, and means for moving the said adjusting frame relatively to themain frame.

6. Ina brick handling apparatus, the combination with a traveling crane including .a laterally movable frame, having rollers mounted therein, fiexible connections depending over said rollers, an adjusting frame within said laterally movable frame and having rollers around which the upper ends of the said flexible connections are extended, the upper extremities vof said flexible connections being secured to portions of the said laterally movable frame, means for adjusting the said adjusting frame with respect to the said laterally movable frame whereby to lengthen and shorten the said fiexible connections, a load carrier suspended beneath the crane and to which the lower ends of the said flexible connections are adjustably secured, and'guiding means for the said carrier in its Vertical movements, and for preventing lateral displacement thereof.

' 7. In a brick handling apparatus, a sus-.

pended load carrier, horizontally movable load discharging means having bearing against a portion of said carrier, a horizontally movable crane from which said carrier is suspended, and connections between said load carrier and said crane, maintaining the former im'movable in .a lateral direetion with respect to the latter.

8. In a brick handling apparatus, a suspended load carrier having a load engaging push bar, and means for actuating the same, and. a traveling crane from which said carrier is suspended and with which itv is movable in respect to the load Whereby to withdraw the load carrier from beneath the load and permit the latter to be discharged upon the space ov'er which the carrier is spotted at the beginning of the discharging operation.

9. In a brick handling apparatus, a suspended load carrier, horizontally movable load discharging means having bearing 'against a portion of said carrier, a horizontally movable crane from which said carrier is suspended and with which the latter is movable in the discharging operation with respect to the load on the carrier, to perm-it nia/,854 

